Hunterdon Tricentennial Committee will announce 2014 plans

The Hunterdon County Tricentennial Committee will on Tuesday announce several major fundraisers to support the more than 50 events planned for the county’s 300th birthday in 2014.

Photographer Walter Choroszewski will discuss his plans for a book celebrating the heritage of Hunterdon. The muralist, Paul Jennis, will be there and artist Dan Campanelli will be publicly displaying and discussing his new painting of the old Court House in Flemington, painted for the Tricentennial.

The session will be at the Flemington Choir School building, Chorister Place, starting 5 p.m.

The Committee has been working for more than a year planning events, lectures and tours for 2014. Some of the 50 events planned include a Leni Lenape Indian encampment, parades, fireworks, a scavenger hunt and an ice cream social. More than 50 lectures are scheduled that include topics on Hunterdon’s founding families, a workshop on how to conduct house genealogy and a lecture series on Hunterdon’s changing landscapes. Tours planned include churches, taverns and lime kilns, throughout the county.

Members of the Tricentennial Committee at the Feb. 7 Freeholders meeting discussed plans for the year-long celebration. The committee, chaired by Marcia Karrow, a former Freeholder and state senator, was formed in spring 2011.

Members of the committee include Freeholder Matt Holt, County Administrator Cynthia Yard, County Clerk Mary Melfi, County Director of Planning Sue Dziamara, former Freeholders Frank Fuzo, Nancy Palladino, Paul Sauerland, George Muller and Harrie Copeland, former County Counsel Guy DeSapio, Raritan Valley Community College Chair Catherine McVicker and Hunterdon Chamber of Commerce President Chris Phelan. Members from various municipal and county historical committees include Stephanie Stevens, Peter Kinsella, Rebecca Case, John Hencheck, Susan Miller, Lora Jones, John Kuhl and Tom Carpenter.

At Tuesday’s event, Karrow will provide a list of the activities planned to commemorate Hunterdon’s birthday. The committee’s headquarters is the Choir School, on loan to them by the county government until 2015. Beginning Jan. 5, 2013 the Choir School will be open on Saturdays for anyone interested in learning about or volunteering for the Tricentennial.